The third Brandish game is subtitled Spirit of Balcan. The “Balcan” mentioned here was Dela’s master, and the same guy Ares killed back before the first game. But he has a new quest for them from beyond the grave, to explore the kingdom of Fiberia. Brandish 3 is once again very similar to its predecessors, with few noticeable additions, one being the zoomed in mini-map, so you don’t have a squint. There’s a new jump attack, a charge attack, and a backstep maneuver too.

The biggest change is that there are four playable characters. Ares is among them, of course, and you can finally play as Dela. Additionally, two other characters have been added. Although they differ slightly in their storylines and abilities, all of the dungeons are pretty much the same, so your experience will still be mostly identical regardless of which character you choose. In also adds several more important story characters, including Mirelle, Dora’s adopted sister.

Characters

Umber

Umber is a tough wrestler. Fitting with the fantasy tough girl stereotype, her judo thong reveals quite a bit of her (somewhat frightening) bodybuilder physique. She fights with knuckles, axes, boomerangs, and morning stars.

Jinza

Jinza is your standard ninja – he begins his quest burglarizing someone house, before he’s unceremoniously beaten up and sucked into the adventure. He’s cool, but compared to the cool designs of the other characters, somehow ninjas just don’t seem to stack up.

There are also seven enemy characters that are playable in an omake mode, but their story is the same as Ares’. So while it seems like there’s more variety to Brandish 2, there really isn’t. Still, the intro cinema is quite nice, and the music is the best of the series. Unlike the previous two games, this one was never ported anywhere.